Calcium supplements linked to earlier death in older people with heart valve disease (Observational and Vitamin K status not known, but many more with diabetes and statin use took supplements)

Medical Xpress / British Medical Journal / Heart ^ | Apr. 25, 2022 | Jutta Bergler-Klein et al

[ConservativeMind]

Calcium supplements are linked to a heightened risk of death among those with aortic valve stenosis, a progressive and potentially fatal condition, finds research.

What's more, these supplements seem to worsen the condition, irrespective of whether or not they are combined with vitamin D.

Aortic stenosis occurs when the aortic valve, the main outflow valve of the heart, stiffens and narrows. This means it can no longer open fully, reducing or blocking blood flow from the heart into the rest of the body.

…Participants were divided into those not taking any supplements (1292;49%), those supplemented with vitamin D alone (332;12%), and those given calcium plus or minus vitamin D supplements (1033;39%),115 of whom took just a calcium supplement.

Those taking supplements had significantly more diabetes and coronary artery disease than those not taking supplements. They were also more likely to be taking statins, warfarin, and phosphate binders (to limit phosphorus absorption), to have had a coronary artery bypass graft and to need kidney dialysis.

Supplemental vitamin D alone didn't seem to affect survival. But supplemental calcium plus vitamin D was associated with a significantly higher (31%) risk of death from any cause and a doubling in the risk of a cardiovascular death. And it was associated with a 48% heightened risk of AVR compared with those not taking supplements.

Supplemental calcium alone was also associated with a heightened risk of death from any cause (24%) and a near tripling in the risk of AVR. And the risks of death from any cause and from cardiovascular disease were also higher among those taking calcium supplements who didn't have their aortic valve replaced.

Those taking supplements also had more risk factors for heart disease and death than those who weren't and the quantities of calcium intake from diet and supplements weren't assessed.

[ConservativeMind]

I can personally state I reversed to “0” a Coronary Artery Calcium score in the 80s by daily taking a 333mg calcium citrate supplement, 2,500 - 4,000 IU of Vitamin D, and Vitamin K (3,000 mcg) / K2-MK4 (2,000 mcg) / K2-MK7 (200 mcg), for two years. I did have with two months of a supplement with Vitamin K (5,000 mcg) / K2-MK4 (25 mg) / K2-MK7 (0.5 mg), which provided the dose of each K component very close to a study that reverted 50% of coronary calcium in 12 weeks in mice.

As my checks were three years apart, I do not know when it truly resolved.

Do note that a calcium plaque is applied over ruptured soft plaques as a patch. This is not what appears to be happening with the heart valve issue described in this thread. Soft plaques also need to be addressed, and those can be targeted with a variety of diet and supplement changes.

Finally, I do have to suggest that if fundamental changes are not made to diet, and ideally, exercise and sleep, supplements alone cannot counter the totality of bad you are accomplishing against your body. In noting the diabetes and statin use of those far worse off in the study, I can’t help but think this is part of what is happening. When the American Diabetes Association pushes high carb diets (with added medicine to temporarily blunt the effects) and even dietitians pushing supplemental nutritional shakes on diabetics with 90+% carbs made up of only maltodextrin (a worse Glycemic Index score far worse than sugar), we have lulled the world into thinking you can “eat as bad as you want, because a neat trick makes it all better.”

I hope this is useful knowledge for those taking such supplements or in these truly concerning health states.

[ConservativeMind]

A post from another thread in which I bring out the research on the things I highlighted above.

https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/4044326/posts?page=40#40

[ConservativeMind]

The “Take Charge Of Your Health” Ping List

This potentially high volume ping list is for health articles and studies which describe something you or your doctor, when informed, may be able to immediately implement for your benefit.

Now keeping a new list (“Common/Top Issues”) for conditions expected to only concern at least 1% of the population. Ask to be on either the “Common/Top Issues” or “Everything” list.

Please email or private message me if you want on or off of a list and of which list you desire.

[EEGator]

Calcium blocks Magnesium absorption, a vital mineral.
It helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system away from the sympathetic nervous system.

[ConservativeMind]

We have been taking calcium citrate separate from my other minerals, including magnesium, for quite a while, due to that concern.

[EEGator]

👍

[FreedomPoster]

Do you have a good link on what supplements to take with what, and what to take separately?

[Dr. Sivana]

I assume this also applies to calcium based antacids (e.g. Tums)

[Grampa Dave]

Wonder if this is another “backdoor” financed study to put more seniors on Statins?

They are now admitting behind closed doors, “(obscure studies)” that high cholesterol probably does not kill us.

Do statins decrease heart problems with aortic valve stenosis!:

LDL-C does not cause cardiovascular disease: a comprehensive review of the current literature:

Uffe Ravnskov,Michel de Lorgeril,David M Diamond,Rokuro Hama,Tomohito Hamazaki,Björn Hammarskjöld, show all

Pages 959-970 | Received 11 Jan 2018, Accepted 31 Aug 2018, Accepted author version posted online: 10 Sep 2018, Published online: 11 Oct 2018

Download citation https://doi.org/10.1080/17512433.2018.1519391
CrossMark LogoCrossMark
In this article

ABSTRACT
1. Introduction
2. Does high total cholesterol cause atherosclerosis?
3. Does high TC cause CVD?
4. Does high LDL-C cause atherosclerosis?
5. Does high LDL-C cause CVD?
6. Does cholesterol-lowering treatment lower risk of CVD?
7. Does FH prove that high LDL-C causes CVD?
8. Has CVD mortality decreased after the introduction of statin treatment?
9. Conclusion
10. Expert commentary
11. Five-year view
Full Article Figures & data References Citations Metrics Licensing Reprints & Permissions

Introduction: For half a century, a high level of total cholesterol (TC) or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) has been considered to be the major cause of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD), and statin treatment has been widely promoted for cardiovascular prevention. However, there is an increasing understanding that the mechanisms are more complicated and that statin treatment, in particular when used as primary prevention, is of doubtful benefit.

Areas covered: The authors of three large reviews recently published by statin advocates have attempted to validate the current dogma. This article delineates the serious errors in these three reviews as well as other obvious falsifications of the cholesterol hypothesis.

Expert commentary: Our search for falsifications of the cholesterol hypothesis confirms that it is unable to satisfy any of the Bradford Hill criteria for causality and that the conclusions of the authors of the three reviews are based on misleading statistics, exclusion of unsuccessful trials and by ignoring numerous contradictory observations.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17512433.2018.1519391

[Sparticus]

But did the study control for participants personal pronouns? </sarcasm>

[ConservativeMind]

This study specifically called out statin users as also taking calcium supplements, and dying quicker.

[ConservativeMind]

This is consistent with what I've read elsewhere.

Supplement Smarts: Best Ways to Take Different Vitamins

https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/ss/slideshow-best-ways-to-take-different-vitamins

[FreedomPoster]

Thanks!

[Seaplaner]

Thanks, CM, for a valuable and personal post.

Vitamins D3 and K2 are our friends.

To which, I include fish oil and Magnesium.

[ConservativeMind]

We take those, too.

[gleeaikin]

Long ago I read that one should take calcium with magnesium at about a 2 to 1 ratio. If you can find any of Adelle Davis’s old books on line, get them. Let’s Eat Right to Get Fit, was her first general hit. Her subsequent Let’s Get Well is more technical but has been a gold mine for me. Recently I have seen several studies indicating that if you have an OPTIMUM level of Vitamin D you are unlikely to end up in a hospital with Covid or chronic diseases.

[Seaplaner]

Calcium is a highly abundant element (it's in lots of foods, for example.)

What supplemental magnesium (in combination with vitamins D3 and K2) does, and to vastly oversimplify, is to re-route calcium into bones instead of artery linings.

There is a correlation between osteoporosis (porous and brittle bones) and atherosclerosis (a crunchy calcium matrix closing off arteries).

I'm not a doc, so don't take advice from me. All just my opinion.

[gleeaikin]

Many years ago I realized that I needed more calcium in my diet so I started taking calcium supplements for monthy cramps. One day I had a severe attack of depression. I went to the book Let’s Get Well where magnesium deficiency was suggested for depression and I then found the information about the 2 to 1 calcium/magnesium ration. I took 1/2 teaspoonful of epsom salts in a glass of water and in 30 minutes the depression was gone. I found a good supplement with the proper ratio and never lost another day to cramps and my frequent backache was gone. When I was about 60 I began to get back pain again and discovered that Boron was also good for bone health. For about a decade my back was fine again with 3 mg/day, then started to hurt again so now I take 3 mg. morning and evening. I am now 83 with no regular aches and pains, and my shrink rate has slowed a lot, from 5’5” to 5’3”.

In those early learning days I had a woman friend across the street. One hot summer day I went across to see her. She was sitting down and crying. She said “I don’t know why I am so depressed, my job is fine, no fights with boyfriend, bills are paid, etc.” I asked what she had been doing, “Oh, gardening out front.” Out front was in the sun and the temperature was 97 in the shade. I told her I could probably help her. When home and mixed a large glass of water with 1/2 tsp. of Epsom salts, and 1/4 teaspoon of table salt. She drank it all and I went to the nearby grocery store. When I returned she was washing dishes and singing to herself.

My husband had a boat at the Jersey shore and would work on it for hours and come home exhausted and very thirsty. I decided to mix him a gallon of water with 1/2 teaspoon each of Epsom salts, potassium salt substitute, and table salt (NaCl). That evening he came home with about an inch left in the bottle and said it had worked great. Late that evening he picked up the gallon to take a drink, made a face and said, “This tastes aweful, it tasted fine this afternoon.” So I guess his body liked it when it was needed.

[Dr. Sivana]

The last time I had epsom salts as a drink I had uncontrollable diarrhea.

[gleeaikin]

I suspect you either had more than 1/2 teaspoon, or were not at all deficient in magnesium at the time.